Pop Mart's Future for Future Generations

Pop Mart’s explosive popularity, particularly among Gen Z in China, stems from emotional spending and the appeal of its collectible characters like MOLLY and SKULLPANDA. Its success is driven by a scarcity-based sales model, vast retail and data infrastructure, and viral social media marketing. While some criticize it as unsustainable and potentially harmful to long-term financial habits, others view it as a form of micro-luxury that offers comfort and control. With international expansion and new product strategies like “MEGA” figures and loyalty programs, Pop Mart’s future could mark a lasting shift in consumer culture—or just a passing trend.

View Article

*Source: https://chozan.co/blog/gen-z-power-chinas-toy-market-the-next-pop-mart/ 

Pop Mart’s popularity in Beijing was unparalleled on a cloudless spring afternoon. Through the serpentine queue that stretched initially from Pop Mart’s flagship store, the line curled past buildings and houses. Inside, fervent guests reached for blind-boxes for Pop Mart’s signature characters– MOLLY, SKULLPANDA, and LABUBU. The scholars call this “emotional spending”. This is marked by people’s desire to mitigate stress of the current world, and Pop Mart’s attractive designed characters offer customers the same dopamine hit as buying a designer bag.

Pop Mart’s growth was considered unprecedented by even the analysts on Wall Street, as they reported a 107% year-to-year increase in RMB. This outcome was attributed to three interlocking factors, including its scarcity model, sprawling data network, and Gen Z’s appetite for Pop Mart characters through social media. The scarcity model fosters a secondary market where initial purchases get traded at multiples of the original price. Pop Mart also has a diverse data network, with 500 brick-and-mortar stores and more than 2,300 RoboShop vending machines, which tracks consumer preferences with keen precision. Moreover, videos on Instagram-like-app, Little Red Book, that unbox Pop Mart characters marketed popmart products. 

However, critics believe that Pop Mart’s purchases are anything but permanent. Purchases could not be prevalent for customers whose wage drops or feelings worsen. Moreover, the fact that the average Chinese urbanite lives within five kilometers of a Pop Mart sale signifies that oversupply might decrease demand and erode scarcity. To counter this argument, Pop Mart’s advocates stated that Pop Mart was expanding globally, overseas soaring 375% and growing in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Spain. This suggests that Pop Mart’s products can transcend beyond cultural boundaries.

Beyond the balance sheet, psychologists argue that Pop Mart provides micro-luxury consumption that serves to provide young adults with control and nostalgia. However, others fear that Pop Mart delays long-term investment such as housing, investments, and retirement through micro-luxury consumption, as purchasing characters of Pop Mart gives an instant gratification. This led to cautions against excessive “blind consumption” of the Pop Mart characters.

While the financial outlook of Pop Mart’s future was positive, Pop Mart came up with a new strategy by launching “MEGA”, which are 400-millimeter sculptures that are ten times the average size of blind box products. This strategy was an astute move, as it upsold loyal fans and deterred commodification. Moreover, Pop Mart introduced a loyalty program that rewarded repeat purchases and gamified consumption to bring users closer into the ecosystem.

Pop Mart’s ascent may represent a shift in consumer psychology or a transient craze. However, it seems incontrovertible that the Generation Z, often caricatured as realistic and price-sensitive, are willing to spend their partial stipend on tiny cardboard boxes filled with nostalgia, community, and control in an uncertain world.